Science/Magic 192 Atai 1

For the next hour, Bloed continued moving towards the center of the city while hunting other candidates. He used the information he got from Oculus to guess the locations of other candidates and then find them.

Once he found a candidate, he would move towards a sniping location and wait for the right moment to attack.

Then–

*Bam!*

With a bullet in the leg, he would take down the enemy.

Until now, the strategy had not failed him. Of the three candidates he had met until now, none had managed to escape.

Well, one of the targets managed to avoid his first bullet, but the second one sealed the deal.

Bloed started to think that maybe this selection would be easier than he thought.

With these thoughts in his mind, Bloed moved towards the next location with Leto following closely behind him.

At that moment, another person appeared in Oculus's sight.

Bloed paused for a moment before wrinkling his brows.

The new enemy was a middle-aged man. He was standing leisurely in the city ruins with a smile, as though he was on a vacation.

A glance was enough for Bloed to know the identity of this person.

A Hunter.

An Rank practitioner. Two kilometers ahead of him.

Bloed sighed. It seemed like he needed to change his route.

At the very least, he wanted to reduce the probability of meeting this hunter at the minimum.

But suddenly, something happened.

From Oculus's sight, Bloed caught the hunter frowning, and then, the hunter looked in Oculus's direction.

Without hesitation, Bloed ordered it to move away and retreat.

At the same time, he was surprised by the sharp instincts of the beastman.

To think he even managed to feel Oculus's observation.

"I guess this route is not possible anymore, huh."

Still using stealth, Bloed changed his route according to the information Oculus was giving him.

And before long, he found his new target.

It was a young beastman standing on a rock with a cold expression.

Different from the other beastmen Bloed had met, this one was wearing tribal clothes and wielding a bone bow in his hands.

Several bone daggers were hanging from a belt in his waits, and a quiver with bone arrows rested in his back.

The race of the young beastman was a bit hard to determine. Bloed thought he was a catkin at the start, but his features were slightly different than one.

Bloed was sure he was some kind of feline beastmen though.

Well, his race was not important.

Like usual, Bloed used Oculus to find a location to snipe the beastman. He then lay on the ground, turned his gun into sniper mode, and aimed.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

When Bloed was confident he could hit his leg, he pulled the trigger.

Then–

*Bam!*

The bullet flew.

But it did not hit.

At the moment Bloed pulled the trigger, the young beastman jumped aside, evading the bullet!

Bloed was slightly surprised, but he kept his calm. Not even one second later, the sniper rifle was pointing to the beastman's leg again.

*Bam!*

The second bulled flew, and the beastman evaded again.

Just like before, he jumped slightly aside just at the moment when Bloed's pressed the trigger.

This time, Bloed's expression turned serious.

It seemed like he had finally met a tough opponent.

But his surprises were just starting.

Just after the beastman avoided the bullet, he looked in Bloed's direction and rushed towards him.

He had found Bloed's location following the energy bullet's glow!

The young beastman was very fast, even faster than Bloed. He moved at great speed, closing the distance between them absurdly fast.

Bloed took a deep breath and aimed again. This time, though, he did not pull the trigger immediately.

Instead, he focused on his target.

His eyes glowed briefly, and an enormous amount of data started to flow through his brain. That data allowed him to calculate the perfect shot.

Then, Bloed found it.

Suddenly, the beastman jumped slightly, creating a brief instant where neither of his foot was touching the ground.

At that instant, Bloed pulled the trigger.

But this time, he saw something surprising.

When Bloed pulled the trigger, the young beastman moved his hand, grabbed a bone dagger from his waist, and throw it forward.

The entire process was done in an instant. Before the energy bullet impacted his leg, the dagger had appeared before it.

*Bam!*

With a slight explosion, the bullet hit the dagger, destroying it completely.

But the young beastman escaped unscathed once more.

Moreover, his expression did not change even for an instant. His face was firm, and his gaze indifferent, only fixed in the place where Bloed was shooting from.

This time, Bloed was unable to hide his surprise.

"Crazy."

Not just the boy's speed of reaction, but also his instincts.

Yes, Bloed was almost one hundred percent sure the young man was relying on his instincts to avoid the bullets.

Unless the boy could somehow predict the future, that was the only way he could avoid his bullets like that.

But instead of becoming discouraged, Bloed smiled.

"Leto, let's move."

Without hesitation, he left his sniping place followed by his trusty wolf.

Currently, the young beastman was relying on the glow produced when the sniper rifle was shot to determine Bloed's location.

But if Bloed moved, the beastman would have to rely on his other senses to locate Bloed. Furthermore, Bloed was in stealth, so finding him would be much harder.

In other words, the initiative was still in Bloed's hands.

In two seconds, Bloed hid in an alley a few meters ahead of the place where he was shooting before.

According to Oculus's images, the beastman would pass for this place very soon.

Quickly, Bloed readied his sniper rifle for one last attempt. At the same time, he gave his wolf an order to turn into sand and spread around the place.

Three seconds later, the beastman appeared.

Bloed stared at him through his bright blue eyes and pressed the trigger.

*Bam!*

And as though the young beastman had predicted the bullet, he twisted his body, avoided the bullet, and turned around.

At the same time, a bone dagger appeared in his hand and was thrown in Bloed's direction.

Straight towards his neck!

Chapter end